A comprehensive plan for the future of the City of Warren is on the cusp of completion.

A draft plan was presented to the city’s Planning Commission in advance of a Wednesday morning meeting.

Commission members will have another month to review the plan before they recommend council approve the plan. That will kick off a 45-day public comment period where the plan will be available for review before council action.

The commission discussed the plan in generalities on Wednesday and also identified a series of areas for potential redevelopment focus.

Commission chair Angie Dart credited the planning process for “bringing the community together.”

“I think you guys did a really good job on the survey,” Commission member Randy Gustafson told the consultant that presented the draft, “but I don’t think you had enough in there about the number of surveys” that have been used to inform the proposals.

He also said that the issue of internet access as an impediment to business “seemed to keep rattling back at us. … I didn’t see anything in there specifically mentioning that and what the plan actually was.”

Gustafson acknowledged the plan’s limitations given process and procedure elements implemented by the state.

“This is a plan for the city,” said Brandi Rosselli with Mackin Engineering, the consultant on the project. That is “why the city is primarily the responsible party” and why the plan uses verbs such as support, encourage and participate rather than do.

When the discussion shifted to identifying specific target areas in the city, the initial identifications were the gateway areas into the city — Market Street, Glade Bridge, Ludlow Street and Main Avenue.

Randy Rossey, director of codes and planning, said the “east side is probably the one” that needs the “most attention.”

Other area identified included the riverfront, historic district, Market Street to Liberty Street on Pennsylvania Avenue and Second Avenue from Liberty Street to Hickory Street.

“Thank you for all the time you’ve put into this,” City Manager Nancy Freenock told the commission. “I know it’s a cumbersome process.”

5G REGULATIONS STILL IN THE AIR

The commission asked for an update on proposed 5G regulations and Rossey said the proposal remains before the City Council.

Freenock said that there is a council member that wants amendments and that a work session is likely to review those amendments.

“You’ve done your due diligence,” Rossey told the commission.